Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota

Type of Institution: private liberal arts college

Size: 2,100 students

Admissions Advice:  Macalester has become increasingly selective over the past few years, with an admission rate hovering around 30%. The representatives I spoke to indicated that Early Action gives a student an advantage in the review, which is something I’ve seen play out with my own students as well. Macalester has a very holistic application review process that considers interest and fit, and they are very committed to being test optional with only 38% of applicants submitting test scores last year.

Most popular majors: Political Science, Economics, International Studies. But in recent years, the most popular majors for incoming students have trended towards Computer Science, Math, and Biology.

Words to describe students I met: multicultural, thoughtful, friendly, liberal, engaged

Unique academic aspects: Macalester leads with its mission and values, and presents them in a way that actually differentiates it from other liberal arts colleges. These values include: internationalism, service to society, multiculturalism, foreign language proficiency, and a strong liberal arts foundation. This is *not* a place for a student who just wants to jump into their major of interest from day one and maximize the use of AP/IB credits from high school to graduate early. There is a robust core curriculum which includes social science, natural science/math, humanities/fine arts, writing, quantitative thinking, US identities, and world language, as well as an expectation to complete some kind of capstone or thesis project.

I enjoyed learning about the “concentrations” Macalester offers, which are essentially sets of 5-8 interdisciplinary courses around a complex theme. Additionally, I was excited to hear that Macalester has the Ordway Field Station about 20 minutes away from campus. This provides an opportunity for students to conduct research on the natural environment and sustainability.

Unique social/cultural aspects:  The Macalester Groveland neighborhood is quiet and calm, kind of suburban feeling honestly. There are lots of parks and green spaces and a cute little downtown area that is more upscale and less gritty than other parts of the Twin Cities. Honestly, this is something that surprised me during my visit! The school promotes its urban location as a big selling point, but in reality they are 4 miles from Saint Paul downtown and about 6 miles from Minneapolis. I don’t think this is a negative necessarily, but just something to note.

Relatedly, students tend to move off campus after the required two years in the dorms. This is a bit rare for a smaller liberal arts college like this, and a benefit of living in a more urban environment. Students tend to stay within 1-2 miles of campus and there are tons of options. I was impressed with how the college maintains a strong sense of community while giving students the opportunity to develop some independence (and save some money!) by living off-campus.

Colleges that seem similar: Occidental College, Pitzer College, Oberlin College, Lewis & Clark College

Concerns about this college:  Macalester has become a lot more diverse in recent years, which is great news but has come with some growing pains. The BIPOC student guides and panelists commented that the school is trying to live its values, but sometimes that happens from the top down without sufficient student input. For example, they decided to move to mixed gender floors for all dorms (and then vote on bathrooms by floor), but didn’t take into account the fact that for some students, especially Muslim students, that is not comfortable or appropriate. This isn’t necessarily a concern, but I do sense that the school has made some missteps as they adjust to serving a more diverse student body.

Overall impressions: My visit to Macalester was really insightful, the guides and panelists were open and honest, and I left the visit with a much stronger sense for the type of student that would thrive at this college. Macalester really has the best of all worlds – a small, supportive college embedded in a cute neighborhood within a large metropolitan area. My biggest worry is that Macalester will continue to become more selective and turn into yet another sub 20% admission rate school, making it less accessible to strong students.